K12 Headlines

5/16/2014

In Massachusetts, critics of new national education goals fear that poetry will become an endangered pursuit. While proponents say the federal standards are no less sensitive to rhyme and meter, the suggestion that poetry’s role in class could be diminished struck fear in the heart of some teachers and poets.

The Senate Education Committee advanced a revised $3.6 billion school funding formula after turning down a previous proposal two weeks ago. The state school board's first formula had been rejected because it included a provision that would have automatically hiked spending for schools in the years to come.

The number of Maine elementary schools that got failing grades for the last academic year nearly doubled, according to statewide school report cards released by the state's Department of Education. Data shows that 52 elementary schools received F grades for the 2012-13 school year.

Samsung Electronics America announced the availability of the new Galaxy Tab 4 Education – its first tablet specifically designed to support scalable 1-to-1 computing initiatives in K12 schools. The rugged, student-friendly, 10.1-inch tablet integrates with Google Play for Education and can be managed easily via a web-based console.

I believe the fundamental error we make is in trying to impose reforms from the top down. Real learning takes place when students become excited in the quest for knowledge and challenged to understand a complex problem and devise a solution for it, even if they get it wrong.

Imposing school transportation costs discourages otherwise sound regionalization programs in rural areas like the Berkshires from being instituted. To push regionalization, the state promised to pay for those costs. It has consistently failed to do so, leaving communities with transportation costs they feared would be their burden should regionalization come about.

ASCD released the new Essential Questions DVD, developed by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins, creators of the Understanding by Design framework . The new DVD, for use in professional learning communities and schools, explores how to design and frame essential questions to create a more stimulating environment for learning.

5/15/2014

ASCD released new ASCD Whole Child Snapshots highlighting how well each state—and the nation—is meeting the comprehensive needs of its children. The snapshots feature data aligned with the five tenets of ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative—healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

Georgia's governor recently signed legislation that allows for greater use of wood materials in public school facilities. Senate Bill 301 removed language from the Georgia Department of Education (DOE) Guideline for Educational Facility Construction that prohibited the use of light wood framing and ordinary wood construction.

The Anaheim City School District in California announced that it has chosen to implement the TIPWeb‐IM textbook inventory system from Hayes Software Systems. This solution will be implemented across the school system’s 24 schools, which serves 19,000 students.

The Missouri Senate passed a fix to the problem-plagued school transfer law. The bill allows students in St. Louis, St. Louis County, adjoining counties and Jackson County to transfer to private, non-religious schools, only if approved by local vote.

Less money coming in to Duval County Schools means about 65 school security guards could be out of a job. Incidents at school, the crime rate in the area, and the makeup of the campus will be taken into consideration when allocating the more than 100 guards left.

The Indiana Department of Education is expanding a program which will help the children of migrant workers. The main goal is for the children to stay with their parents while they travel for work and not fall behind in school. The credits will transfer when they return.